For individuals, when bad weather is imminent, having a pre-determined plan is critical.

“My recommendation is, when there is a thunderstorm warning issued, know, “Do I have a plan? Where am I going to go if there is a tornado?” They need to know where to go. This is an issue discussed over and over. Someone doesn’t have a place to go – or doesn’t feel like they have a place to go,” he said.

Buller said enacting a safety plan before an emergency is key to being safe.

“People get in their car and go somewhere – that isn’t the point in time to be doing that because when you hear that siren or get that ap notice do you know exactly where that tornado is? Because, it could be right outside your house and you don’t have time to go out of that building and go wherever you would go at that point. You can get caught in the tornado itself,” he said.

Advanced technology gives people the ability to better judge if it is safe to travel.

“Warnings from the National Weather Service are so instantaneous, it is a simply fact is when they give that warning, they say it is southwest of Hesston 4 miles and traveling at 30-miles-per-hour, can you make it? If they say it’s a mile out and moving at 30-miles-per-hour, can you make it? It’s a discretionary thing, but you need to think in those terms,” he said.

While up-to-the-minute information is helpful, being vigilant at all stages of bad weather can be helpful.

The Hesston Recoard, a weekly newspaper, is published each Thursday. If you have a news item for The Hesston Record, e-mail it to us. We welcome births, weddings, engagements, letters to the editor, club news and just about anything that is local.